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This is an odd sort of story. I thought all through it that I was reading a book intended for an adult audience with a teenaged protagonist. I really felt like this was just a story that will cater best to fans of Ted Bell's other books rather than the average teen book reader. ( )

Exciting for a junior reader; predictable for an adult. Life in the time of Nazis in Britain. Contains some history not usually found, in regard to Churchill's "spies" prior to his service as Prime Minister during WWII. ( )

I liked the time period, WWII in Britain, as well as the Napoleonic wars in the 19th century, but as much as I liked the characters, I never really got into the story. So, a little lack-luster. Then again, it might be more geared for 11-14 year old boys.... Some books are ageless, while some, though readable at most any age, definitely feel as if they were written with a very specific audience in mind, usually to the detraction of the story. ( )

A hero is no braver than an ordinary man,but he is braver five minutes longer.--Ralph Waldo Emerson

A good ship is never tested in calm waters.--Richard Trench

Dedication

For my daugher, Byrdie

And for Mike, Pendleton, and Sally

Also for Benji and Alex,and all the other kids in the neighborhood

First words

"Hard a'lee, me boys!" shouted Nick McIver over the wind, "or be smashed to smithereens in the jaws of Gravestone Rock!"

Quotations

Last words

One one of the four islands, the one called Greybeard, a small pocket of resistance fighters engaged in constant disruption and daring feats of sabotage against the Nazi invaders for the duration of the war.But that, of course, is another story.

Wikipedia in English

Nick of Time is the first young reader's book written by bestselling author Ted Bell.

In the grand tradition of epic novels like Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island comes a wondrous tale of time travel, adventure, and riches, in which twelve-year-old Nick McIver sets out to become “the hero of his own life.”

The setting is England, 1939, on the eve of war. Nick and his younger sister, Kate, live in a lighthouse on the smallest of the Channel Islands. Nick and Kate come to the aid of their father who is engaged in a desperate war of espionage with German U-boat wolf packs that are circling the islands. The information they provide to Winston Churchill is vital as he tries to warn England of the imminent Nazi invasion.

One day Nick discovers an old sea chest, left for him by his ancestor, Captain Nicholas McIver of the Royal Navy. Inside, he finds a time machine and a desperate plea for help from the captain. He uses the machine to return to the year 1805. Captain McIver and, indeed, Admiral Nelson’s entire fleet are threatened by the treachery of the French and the mutinous Captain Billy Blood. Nick must reach deep inside, using his wits, courage, and daring to rescue the imperiled British sailors.

His sister, Kate, meanwhile, has enlisted the aid of two of England’s most brilliant “scientific detectives,” Lord Hawke and Commander Hobbes, to thwart the invading Nazis. She and Nick must face England’s underwater enemies, a challenge made all the more difficult when they discover the existence of Germany’s supersecret submarine.

In this striking adventure for readers of all ages, Nick must fight ruthless enemies across two different centuries, on land and sea, to help defeat those determined to destroy his home and his family.